Opel Signum Reviews

2003 Opel Signum Elegance 3.0 V6 turbo diesel from Slovenia

Summary:

If chosen carefully, this car is great value for money

Faults:

January 2009 @ 238,500km - EGR valve went the same day I got it, but the fault was intermittent, so only replaced it 8,000km later when the fault light was constantly on and the car was undrivable due to severe power loss.

Stupidly, I bought a used EGR, which broke again in just over 10,000km. There were huge plumes of black smoke coming from the back, along with the famous fault light and power loss.

August 2009 @ 257,000km - Replaced with new EGR and so far so good, no smoke.

April 2009 @ 246,000km - I noticed the car was juddering under partial throttle and smoking gray under hard acceleration. This was caused by fouled injectors.

October 2009 @ 258,000km - the car started running on only 5 cylinders, so replaced all 6 injectors with 2nd hand ones for 500GBP.

January 2010 @ 265,000km - Low boost pressure coming up more and more often. Diagnosed as sticking variable vanes in the turbo geometry. New turbo from e-bay.

February 2010 @ 265,500km - Annoying acceleration behaviour. Turbo feels as if it's going on-off-on-off-on. This fault was present in Jan 2009, but as now everything's been sorted, it's much more annoying. Not yet diagnosed, but suspected air flow meter.

Dual mass flywheel's been rattling since I bought it.

General Comments:

Main problem with these engines are cylinder liners, which usually let go much sooner than 240,000km, so that's why I bought a high miler

The car is superb on the motorway, very comfortable even with cloth seats. Top speed is 230km/h.

If the engine is working well, the mid-range torque is phenomenal.

If careful, it can consume less than 6.0L/100km (or more than 47mpg) and if you're really really careful you can get it down to 4.0L/100km, but that's insanely slow driving with no traffic.

Doesn't like corners much, but still handles OK for a big, heavy front wheel drive diesel.

2006 Opel Signum Elegance 1.9 turbo diesel 150 hp from Lithuania

Summary:

Faults:

General Comments:

I've been enjoying my Signum for over 10 months now. It is my first car with an automatic transmission, and boy this is a delight!

The car is very quiet, with 225 km/hour it's doing only 2900-3000 t/sec, and the computer shows 9,2 l/100km instant consumption!!! A delight number 2!

However, it's not a racing car, although there's enough torque to leave many Opel dislikers remorselessly behind. Cornering is not its strongest capability, it tends to under steer, though it could be due to Bridgestone tires. I've tried colleagues Vectra Station (shares its extended chassis with Signum) and it felt more secure, but than colleague has chosen for Continental premium contact slippers.

The only thing that bothers me is... the badge. I was shopping for a SAAB 9-3 Sport Wagon, but it was out of my budget. Same dealer, smooth talk of a salesman, and a huge discount made me change my mind. An excellent service by the way, while they're changing the oil I'm speeding in a SAAB 9-3 2.0t Vector. Lots of fun and even more petrol, the thing is thirsty as... you fill it in :)